Law Enforcement and Private Sector collaborating on Organized Retail Crime

Government Accountability Office: Retailers collaborate with law enforcement agencies to detect and deter retail theft and investigate potential ORC cases, and federal agencies are taking steps to better track their involvement. Stopping ORC begins with retailers, which have invested in new technologies and personnel to deter and investigate ORC. These investigations are often conducted in concert with local law enforcement, which generally must balance ORC investigative demands with other offenses—including violent crime. Federal agencies, including FBI and ICE, also work major ORC cases in conjunction with retailers and local law enforcement. These agencies do not have dedicated ORC resources, but both have implemented recent efforts to enhance tracking of ORC cases within their case management systems, including developing a program code to better track involvement in ORC cases. Such tracking is intended, in part, to improve data collection and reporting of case information and help inform management resource decisions.